Internationally Distinguished Scholar Roy Suddaby Joins MISE Department

By Sue McMurray

Roy Suddaby, one of the world’s most highly cited researchers in business and economics, recently joined the Carson College as a professor of management on a 50 percent appointment. An internationally renowned scholar of organizational theory and institutional change, Suddaby is the Winspear Chair of Management at the Peter B. Gustavson School of Business at the University of Victoria and has adjunct professor positions at Ritsumeikan University in Japan and the IAE Business School in Argentina.

But he’s really not a newcomer to the Carson College—in fact, he published his first paper in a special issue Jerry Goodstein organized at the Academy of Management Journal nearly 20 years ago. He’s also known and admired Paul Skilton’s work on repeat collaboration and Tom Tripp’s groundbreaking work on trust and revenge, he says.

“My recent interest in Carson was sparked by some of the very creative work emerging from junior entrepreneurship faculty who are exploring some very creative aspects of business innovation,” Suddaby says. “I’m very excited to be a part of that. Carson also has an outstanding reputation in the management information systems area as well, which is where much of my current research is moving.”

Changing trajectory of management field

Suddaby primarily teaches Carson doctoral-level courses on qualitative research and organization theory, and he will also work with junior – and mid-level faculty researchers.

“I think the broad field of management is moving away from an obsession with large multinational corporations and beginning to focus more explicitly on small enterprises, family businesses, and entrepreneurs,” he says.

He also perceives the field as moving toward more multidisciplinary research, with a specific focus on how technology and management information systems are driving that process.

Carson is well positioned to be a leader in this trajectory inasmuch as the school has historical strengths in these subject areas, and the region offers a terrific context to study these trends, he says.

Suddaby’s long career as a distinguished scholar and researcher has contributed to our understanding of the critical role of symbolic resources—legitimacy, authenticity, identity and history—in improving an organization’s competitive position.

“I am excited to have Roy join the MISE department. His expertise and leadership will create synergies with the great faculty we already have in the department,” says Robert Crossler, MISE department chair. “His personality and willingness to build up others makes him a great fit for this department as we endeavor to strengthen our global research reputation.”

Research contributions and editorial service have global impactful

Suddaby’s accomplishments include being named a distinguished scholar by the Administrative Sciences Association of Canada, a JMI scholar by the Western Academy of Management and a member of the College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists of the Royal Society of Canada. Thompson Reuters identified him as one of the world’s most highly cited researchers in business and economics in 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017.

He has also served as past editor of the Academy of Management Review and is or has been an editorial board member of the Academy of Management Journal, Administrative Science Quarterly, Organization Studies, Journal of Management Studies, and the Journal of Business Venturing. He has earned best-paper awards from the Academy of Management Journal, Administrative Science Quarterly, and the Administrative Sciences Association of Canada as well as the Greif Research Impact Award from the Academy of Management.